Arts, Culture and Quality of Life in Global Cities

Arts, Culture and Quality of Life in Global Cities Conference

December 9, 2013 • 3:30PM – 5:30PM

The Ford Foundation

The Committee on Global Thought, in partnership with the Ford Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, presented a one-day program bringing together scholars, policy makers, private sector and nonprofit leaders, and practitioners-artists, architects, planners, community activists. Discussion centered on the urgent issues involved in fostering a deeper understanding of the role arts and culture can play in the development of New York City and other global cities.

Vishakha N. Desai, Special Adviser for Global Affairs at Columbia University and Senior Research Scholar, School of International and Public Affairs

Kate D. Levin, Commissioner for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

Saskia Sassen, Co-Chair, Committee On Global Thought at Columbia University

Roberta Uno, Senior Program Officer, Ford Foundation

There is a growing consensus among civic leaders that the presence of arts and cultural institutions and networks is vital to the health of any global city, old or new. But it is less apparent how to build and sustain robust cultural infrastructure.

How do we develop quantitative and qualitative measurements to assess the impact of arts and culture on the quality of life of cities?

How do we balance the issues of social justice and creativity in cities where the super-rich and the ultra-poor of the world reside, and often collide?

What are the roles of public and private sectors in creating a healthy cultural ecology in a global city?

What are the barriers to the successful implementation of cultural policy in global cities?

Report

The report of the conference, which can be accessed below, aimed to identify key drivers of a successful cultural policy, barriers in the implementation of such a policy, and themes for further research that would help create better assessment tools for measuring the impact of arts and culture on rapidly changing global cities.

Schedule

Why does it matter to have a healthy arts and cultural environment in global cities undergoing constant change? How do we define success in developing cultural strategy beyond economics, and for whom? What are the barriers in developing a successful system?

What is an appropriate role for the private sector in developing cultural ecology for a City? How should the for-profit sector engage and work with the city governments as well as artistic communities? What are the risks in such a partnership?

Often arts and culture are perceived as elitist and not connected with less privileged communities such as new immigrants or those who live on the edges of affluence. However, culture can be central to the formation of identity for the same group of people. What are the ways that creativity and cultural production become a key part of creating an equitable city? How might this differ in different cultural contexts?

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